Bill? It's Us! Earth! -

Bill? It's Us! Earth! - George Bush, as Jason Lewis said, is a master at campaigning from the middle and governing from the right.

But I suggest that, on top of his ability to triangulate on the campaign trail, he's also been a master at coopting the symbols of the GOP that alienate the middle - people who are alienated from some of the symbols of "over the top" conservatism, rather than from simple conservative principles. Lots of people are pro-growth, pro-life (to the extent that they don't regard abortion as a sacrament, whatever their views on abortion), pro-gun - and the GOP under George Bush is adept at playing those cards without the Gary Bauers and Pat Robertsons that have attached themselves to those issues.

But Bill Moyers still doesn't get it.

I loved this part:

And it includes secrecy on a scale you cannot imagine. Above all, it means judges with a political agenda appointed for life. If you liked the Supreme Court that put George W. Bush in the White House, you will swoon over what's coming.

And if you like God in government, get ready for the Rapture. These folks don't even mind you referring to the GOP as the party of God. Why else would the new House Majority Leader say that the Almighty is using him to promote 'a Biblical worldview' in American politics?

Mangling context - it's what's for dinner. I continue:

So it is a heady time in Washington — a heady time for piety, profits, and military power, all joined at the hip by ideology and money.

This demigoguery is being paid for by our tax dollars, by the way.

Yes, I'm writing PBS.

UPDATE: Powerline makes the connection that I didn't; among the tropes about the religious right and the control of the GOP by the "wealthy", there's the drumbeat I've been sounding since Paulapalooza: hatred. Moyers, Keillor, Streisand, Sheen and the whole sorry lot are paralyzed by hatred, to the point that reason seems to have left them.

I hate giving in to hyperbole. Am I wrong, here?

Posted by Mitch at November 12, 2002 07:49 AM